Of Children and Fire
by bangingonkeyboards
Summary: Primrose Everdeen in her last moments


**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters except for Hannie. Those belong exclusively to Suzanne Collins, wonderful author that she is. **

Primrose Everdeen is not a child. No, she thinks, a small little flare of surprise tingling at the base of her spine, her fingertips blue with cold and fear, she _isn't_. Not now, in this twisted knot of a war, with its politics and intricacies that she can barely understand. Not here, in the very heart of the Capitol, where there is smoke and confusion and the screams of the lost and dying hanging like soot in the air. No, she hasn't been a child for a long time, not since her name was called at the Reaping and all she could was her heart, loud and heavy in her ears. Not since Katniss came like an avenging angel to save her, voice shrill and panicked. Not since Katniss gave herself up like a lamb for slaughter and left Prim with a strange, unsettling mix of gratitude, grief, and shame.

Katniss doesn't know that Prim didn't want her games, not _really._ She doesn't know that her small sister had closed her eyes and pressed her face into the fragile safety of her hands whenever Katniss had appeared on screen. She doesn't know how lost, how helpless, how utterly fucking weak Prim had felt. Doesn't know that this is why Prim fights, in her own unique way, with her healing hands and gentle words and a mind that is angry and lost and wanting desperately to do something. Katniss would have thrown a fit if she had known how very involved Prim has become in this war, _her_ war. Katniss would do everything in her power to keep Prim from ever setting foot in the much-maligned Capitol. She would physically restrain her if she could, never mind that Prim is now as tall as she is.

But Katniss isn't here, and Prim is in the Capitol, waiting on tenterhooks for a bomb, an explosion of gunfire, a _something_ to let her know that she and the other medics are needed. One of the other medics, Hannie, a young woman with messy red hair and a name that pulls your lips into a strange contortion of a smile when you say it, touches Prim lightly on the shoulder. "You're gonna be fine, kid." She says, patting Prim comfortingly. Prim sighs a little, lets herself sink back onto her heels. She hadn't even realized she'd been standing on tiptoe.

"I know, I just – Katniss – I worry that-" Suddenly there is a deep, resonating, earth-shattering noise, followed by smoke and screaming. _Children_ screaming. Hannie looks at Prim for a long moment before she hauls her to her feet.

"Come on, kid, it's time to get in on the action." Prim can barely breathe, let alone speak, so she runs after the rest of the quickly departing medics. And she freezes. Because there, in front of Snow's mansion, is a pen full of children, _infants_, forming a human barrier between the President and the Rebel army. It is a moment before she realizes they are bleeding, their small faces contorted in pain and fear and want for their mother's arms. She sets out at a sprint, flings herself over the short fence keeping them contained. There is so much blood. She doesn't know what to do with all this blood. Prim takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and remembers her mother's words. _You can only do so much medicinally to stop the pain of the dying, but there is nothing more powerful than warm arms, a comforting word, a gentle way of easing the hurting from this world into the next. _Prim picks up the smallest child near her, starts wiping away the blood from a gash above the child's left eye. She croons softly down at the little being, and the boy raises a small hand to her face.

But – he is not reaching for her face. She turns, startled, to see small silver parachutes falling from the sky. Aid has come at last, she thinks, and a parachute lands in the palm of her hand. She looks up and –

_There is Katniss_. Her face breaks into a smile and Katniss begins to run. And then there is noise and light and fire and the parachutes have exploded and the world is red and fire and blood and the baby has fallen from her arms and she _has _no arms and she is falling and the ground is miles away and she wants cry and scream but there is nothing but pain. She wants to tell Katniss she is so very sorry, but there is no voice left for her.


End file.
